This invention relates to assemblies for cooking human food, and in particular to such assemblies that use heated tubes that are rotatably mounted to a housing so that food can be placed upon the roller tubes to be heated. The invention also relates to guard covers for human food cooking assemblies so that germs such as from sneezing, and contaminants in the ambient air, are blocked from impinging upon the food. The invention further relates to a mechanism for preventing a drive chain from being displaced or disengaged from a drive mechanism or drive chain.
Heretofore, heating and cooking assemblies have used rotatable roller tubes for heating and cooking food. Roller tube cooking is especially adaptable to heating and cooking products that have an elongated shape, such as hot dogs and wieners. In the prior art, the roller tubes had been mounted to the housing by bearings. However, the load exerted by the tube upon such bearings has caused deformation, and has caused wear and tear upon the bearing so that grease and other liquids have passed through the bearing seals to enter other parts of the housing such as the drive assembly of the housing.
Prior roller tube heating assemblies have used drive systems that have employed a chain driven by a rotatable sprocket or gear. The chain has been connected to sprockets or gears mounted at the ends of the roller tubes so that rotation of the drive sprocket or drive gear rotates the roller tubes. In the prior art, the roller heating tubes have been mounted in a row horizontally relative to the housing, or in some cases, at an angle of about 15 degrees relative to the housing, with their central axes extending in a straight line. However, there have been problems caused by the application of the drive chain force from the drive member directly to pulling a roller tube. This has resulted in distorting the end of that roller tube, and also in distorting the bearing with which the roller tube is mounted to allow grease and liquids to pass by the bearing into enclosures such as into the area housing the drive components. It has also been found that when cleaning roller tubes if force is exerted on one or more of the roller tubes it may displace or disengage the drive chain from the drive member or drive assembly. There are also situations where exerting force to one or more of the roller tubes will result in the drive chain being jammed within the roller grill assembly that causes the roller heating tubes to malfunction or not to rotate. In either of these events the roller grill assembly needs to be disassembled to repair the roller grill assembly or to place the drive chain back on the drive member or mechanism.
Further, with roller tubes aligned at an angle of about 15° relative to the housing in the prior art, inconvenience has arisen in an operator trying to serve food from the grill when the operator is located at the end of the grill at the upper incline of the tubes. Additionally, with a 15° incline of the tubes, food products can roll down toward the bottom of the tubes if they are bumped by a serving instrument during the serving process or a rearrangement process.
A consideration in roller grills is conservation and distribution of the heat that is applied to the roller tubes. Prior heated roller tubes have had elongated, spiral heating elements covered by sheathes, which extend through the center of the tubes. However, because heat is lost at the ends of the roller tubes, it is desirable to a greater distribution of heat at the ends of the tubes than in the center part of the tubes to provide a more uniform temperature along the entire roller tube. There is also a need to provide heat to the roller tubes so that the food products are maintained at a sanitary temperature of 140° Fahrenheit.
Previous food cooking heating assemblies have employed controls for controlling the supply of power, controlling the temperature of the roller tubes, controlling the heating time, and using display lights to indicate the state of control members. Such controls have been mounted on a control panel of a food cooking assembly. Such controls have been exposed to view during operation, and also exposed to possible impingement or bumping by a person or by some object moved about the assembly, to change the setting of a control. In the prior art, drawers or containers have been used to store items such as buns or other foods, in proximity with a heating assembly.
Heretofore, guards have been used to cover food cooking and heating assemblies to help resist germs and contaminants from coming into contact with the food located with a heating or cooking assembly. Such guards have been comprised of transparent material, such as plastic. In the prior art, such guards have had hinged components which can be lifted to allow access to the food under the guard cover. A problem with this type of unit has been that the operators using them have, at times, lifted the component up to have access to the food, but not returned the hinged member to a lower position to better cover the food. Prior guards have had pass-through types of structure wherein there are openings at the ends of the guard with a passage connecting the openings. A problem with these guards is that one could sneeze or cough into the openings into the passage to contaminate the food, or other contaminants could float through the openings to contact the food. In the prior art, food guards have used openings covered by flaps with the guard structure including a rigid ledge connecting the bottom part of the guard beneath the opening. A problem with these types of guards is that the ledge at the bottom of the opening hinders accessibility to food and makes it more difficult to see the food.